Unraveling the 1937 Alice Parsons Kidnapping Mystery

A new look at the 1937 abduction of a wealthy wife and mother, based on previously classified FBI documents—includes photos.

In 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York. She was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island’s wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months.

J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case. Within a short time, Parsons’s husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, became prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities, and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved. Now, in this book, former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents—and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.

About the Author

Matt Weisgerber is the narrator of over a dozen audiobooks, including YA, children’s, horror, western, sci-fi, and comedy titles. His voice has been described as friendly, smooth, unique, and conversational, and he has a knack for character voices. Matt is easy to work with, and loves creating engaging and believable performances.

Steven C. Drielak is an internationally recognized expert in the area of Hot Zone Forensic Attribution. He received his master’s degrees from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He has more than thirty years of law enforcement experience. Steven established the Suffolk County Environmental Crime Unit in New York. He commanded that unit for sixteen years. Steven has directed within the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training. His role spanned both the Homeland Security and Criminal Enforcement national programs. As the director of the EPA’s National Criminal Enforcement Response Team, he led the effort. He deployed environmental forensic evidence collection teams. These teams responded to BP Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oil pipeline failures. They also addressed the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Steven has served as a senior forensic attribution instructor. He worked at the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. There, he was a program developer. He served for seventeen years as a National Academy Instructor for the EPA’s criminal enforcement program. He has also provided environmental forensic attribution training for the FBI’s Hazardous Materials Response Unit. He has provided international training to numerous countries within the European Union. He has authored and coauthored six textbooks in the areas of environmental crimes, weapons of mass destruction and forensic attribution. He has also authored two historical fiction novels. He was an appointed member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Environmental Crimes Committee. He served on the President’s Interagency Microbial Forensics Advisory Board.